Jdaylifinpessey

Accomplished Houseman

nly a small numher ol' driyers ol‘

standardhreds worldwide. has

aeeumulated more than 2.t)t)t) eareer wins. How many ol‘ these driyers are Prince Edward lslanders?

‘loseph 1.. llennessey known hetter as

"Jody" is one ol‘ 1 'l‘he others— \\”ally llennessey. _loe ()"Brien. l’aul .\lael\'en‘/.ie. Garry .\lael)onald. lx'enny Arsenault. (iary (Ihappell.

;\latthe\\'s.

limmons .\lael\'ay. Paul

llenry Smallwood. .\like

;\'lael)onald. liarle Semple. ~Iimmy \‘l'helan. (Ilark Smith. _lohn (Lhappell. liarl Smith and Mark i\1ael)onald. ’l'his talene ed group oi teamsters is prooi positiye that l’.li.l. ean produee talent eomparahle

to anywhere in this sport.

:\t age 38. Alody's health determined that he would he less aetiye in the driying and training ol~ horses than he was a le\\ years earlier. liasily reeogni/ed in his familiar white—hlue—yelk>w driying eolors. he was still regarded hy his peers and traek patrons as one ol‘ the ell’ieient dri— yers on Atlantie raeetraeks He had 3.0M wins as a driyer and 3 H wins as a train~ er. llis l‘astest win eyer was at the Summerside Raeeway in a traek record time oi 1:3" with (,'/n'i's/o/)ber (I. [)011'11.

1v I I Photo: (iords‘n‘Nlaunwhite

_lody llennessey grew tip around horses.

lle rememhered at age eight he would get hold ol‘ a pitehlork and elean out a stall. As a memher ol~ a l‘amily of 12. it was neeessary l‘or all ol his hrothers and sisters to help their lather. _loe with the ham ehores at the (i.l).l).

'l‘wo ol‘ the horses that were the lirst he worked around were illr INN/[Hg and (fa/lie llul. tilt [Mr/mg was a niee little tree—legged gray mare and a tan layorite at the (I.l).l’. lle loyed to get on the tt‘aek with her and he eould hardly reach the stirrups. He got his lirst scare and learned an important lesson when (ill/lie //(// got spooked and liolted l‘rom the traek to the stalile area with lody on the iog eart. lle eouldn‘t hold her hut he learned what to do when this would hap— pen in the luture. He learned this and other yaluahle track skills l‘rom his dad who insisted that you worked at some— thing until you did it properly. lody explained. “.\lost ol' \\ hat we know today we learned it from him. \\’e l‘ollowed his

path and direction.”

As a kid growing up in (Iharlottetown.

lody also admired and henel‘itted from

other talented Atlantie horsemen. lle

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